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I looked up when I heard a sudden knocking sound coming from downstairs. I glanced at the alarm clock on my nightstand, frowning when I realised it was past one in the morning.

I carefully slid out of my bed, leaving my book open on the floor to pick up later, and tiptoed out of my room, a shiver running down my spine at the contact with the cold floor. I carefully made my way down the stairs in the darkness using my phone's flashlight not to fall, not wanting to wake my parents up. They would've been pissed if they'd found out I'd stayed up reading until one on a school night.

Another shiver ran down my back when my nude feet touched the marble floor, but I ignored, slowly walking towards the front door, from which another knock resonated. I reached it and put my hand on the handle, standing motionless for a couple of seconds as I decided what to do, glaring at the wooden door when I heard another knock. Considering it was night, opening it didn't seem like the best idea, but I also was sure they wouldn't have stopped unless somebody had opened, and I knew it was just a matter of time before my parents woke up as well.

A new knock resonated, and I knew I didn't have many options. I turned on the hallway light and grabbed my dad's black umbrella from where it was leaning under the coat hanger just in case. I took a deep breath before opening the door, just enough for me to see who was outside.

My heart dropped all of sudden when I discovered Harry was leaning against the wall next to my door, looking down. I widened my eyes as I took in his profile, that was dimly enlightened by the streetlights. I glanced at myself, realising that I was nowhere close to being dressed appropriately, and I blushed slightly, knowing that there was no way to escape the situation.

I opened the door more, finally catching Harry's attention, and he looked up, a somewhat confused look on his face.

"What are you doing here?" I whispered to him, putting down the umbrella since there was no need for it, wrapping my arms around my middle to keep a minimal warmth as I was basically standing outside.

"Hi" he said in a higher pitch than usual, completely disregarding my question, detaching his back from the wall and moving to stand in front of the door, stumbling slightly before putting his hand on the side of the door, catching himself before he could fall.

I stared at him for a couple of seconds, furrowing my eyebrows. "Are you..." I stopped, trying to analyse his face, but found it impossible in the mild darkness surrounding us. "Are you drunk?" I asked him in a faint whisper, finding my answer in the breathy laugh that followed my words.

"Sorry" he managed to let out, our closeness allowing me to smell the alcohol and smoke in his breath.

I shook my head, taking a decision even before I knew it. "Come in" I whispered as I moved to the side, sending a worried glance in the direction of that stairs, knowing that I would've been in big trouble if my parents had come down in that moment.

He moved a hesitant step inside, and another. I put my arm in front of his chest just in time to keep him from losing his balance and stumbling to the floor. He let out a sigh, trying to brush his hair out of his eyes, but just ending up messing it up more.

"Be quiet" I murmured to him, glancing outside and discovering his car was nowhere to be seen. I slowly closed the door, trying to be as silent as possible, not daring to remove my hard from his chest in case he would've tripped over his own feet. "Kitchen" I whispered as I hesitantly neared him, trying my best to make him walk into the other room in a straight line to avoid crashing onto anything.

"I smoked" he mumbled into my ear as we walked, a hint of distress into his voice. "I've never been good at keeping promises" he slurred, his hand scrambling to get a hold of the counter to stabilise himself, "sorry."

I turned on the kitchen light and turned off the one in the hallway, before taking a chair and lifting it to allow him enough space to sit. "It's alright" I quietly replied to him, not really caring about his revelation in that moment. "Sit down" I added, hoping to minimise the unwanted sounds by not risking him falling.

He did, immediately leaning over the table and hiding his head in his arms. I closed the door of the kitchen, hoping that it would've been enough to hide our voices, and walked to the other side of the room, taking a glass from the cupboard and filling it with water before carefully putting it in front of him. Despite the little sound it made when I placed it on the table, Harry completely ignored it, not moving an inch.

"Drink something" I whispered, putting my hand on his shoulder for a brief second to catch his attention.

He looked up, seeming to realise just in that moment that I had put a glass in front of him. I leaned against the counter, giving him a worried glance as he drank the water to fast and coughed a couple of times, hoping that he wouldn't have woken my parents up. He quieted himself down again, leaning against the back of the chair and staring down, carelessly messing his dark hair up again. I stared at the rosiness of his cheeks, wondering how he'd even ended up there, in my house, in that moment.

I walked closer to him, kneeling next to him to get his attention. "Did you walk here?" I asked him, and he gave me a nod, his bloodshot eyes searching for mine. I nodded, taking in the situation and wondering what I was supposed to do. I couldn't drive him home - and I had no car to drive him home with anyway. I could've called Niall, but I knew for a fact that he couldn't drive as well, so it wouldn't have been helpful. I also knew, though, that he couldn't stay in my house. There was no way I could've told my mother I was keeping a drunk boy in my bedroom, and she would've surely freaked if she'd discovered it on her own.

"I thought of you" he sputtered, distracting me from my thoughts and making me look up at him again. "You make me nervous. I feel weird, don't know how the fuck to ask you out."

I widened my eyes, surprise hitting me even though I should've expected him to say weird stuff considering the state he was in. I opened my mouth to say something, but he beat me to it, continuing his blabbered one-sided conversation.

"Won't even fuck me" he slurred looking at the table in front of him, "why won't you fuck me?"

"You're drunk" I whispered fast in response as soon as I processed his mumbled words, an even more shocked than before look settling on my face at the openness of his speech. "Who can I call?" I asked him quietly, but he just shrugged, his intoxicated mind deciding that my question wasn't important enough to deserve a reply. "I'm calling Liam" I chose fast, given that he'd seemed to me as the only one in his group of friends with at least the slightest bit of common sense. "Where's your phone?"

He shrugged again, starting to play with the hem of the shirt he was wearing. "On the floor" he mumbled, motioning at a generalised spot.

"On the... floor?" I said questioningly with a little frown, glancing at the floor of the kitchen. I didn't remember having seen him putting it down, but it was also really late so it could've just escaped my attention.

"Outside" he whispered absentmindedly, and I shot up almost instantly, tiptoeing as fast as possible out of the kitchen and towards the main door, hoping that it would've still been there.

I opened it fast, not caring about taking the umbrella in case protection was needed, exiting the house but keeping the door open with a leg so that a sudden blow of wind couldn't have accidentally locked me out.

Thankfully I spotted the dark phone, still abandoned on the floor, next to my doormat. I sighed, taking it and going back inside, hoping that Harry hadn't accidentally set my kitchen on fire in the small time I'd left him alone.

When I entered the kitchen I found him in the same position as before, leaning back against the chair. "Can you unlock it?" I asked him, putting the phone in front of him on the table and filling his glass again, hoping that I would've managed to sober him up enough to decide what he was to do together.

He leaned forward, pressing the home button and messily typing in the code twice before getting it right. I took the phone and slowly pushed the glass of water towards him as silently as possible in hopes he would've got the hint. I raised my eyebrows slightly when I saw that Harry's home screen was just black, but didn't mind his business, knowing that, considering how private he was most of the time, it would've been low of me to take advantage of his momentary weakness and do so.

With no surprise, I found Liam's number simply saved under his name, no picture or nickname on the contact. I clicked on the call button and brought the phone to my ear, nervously tapping my blunt nail on the table as I waited for him to pick up, my nervousness raising with each ring ignored on the other side. I sighed when the call went to voicemail, realising that he wouldn't have been of any help. I tapped against the screen of the phone, trying to decide who I could've called next. Despite what I would've preferred, Zayn was the next best thing - other than the only other person I'd met aside from Liam that was surely friends with Harry, so the choice was almost obvious.

I scrolled to the end of the list, finding Zayn's name and clicking on the contact, and starting the call, sighing when it went to voicemail straight after. I locked the phone and looked up at Harry, seeing that he'd hidden his face in his crossed arms on the table again, the late hour finally starting to get to him as well.

I carefully walked towards him, putting my hand on his shoulder and shaking lightly to get him to look at me. "Liam and Zayn aren't answering, so you have to stay here, okay?" I whispered to him, watching him as he gave me a little nod. "Take off your shoes" I added, knowing that we would've had to hide away in my bedroom, taking the glass and putting it in the sink.

With some trouble, he managed to take off his black boots without falling from the chair, and I reached him again.

"We have to be quiet, alright?" I whispered, hating the way the amount of trouble I would've been in if I'd been discovered seemed to rise exponentially by the second.

He nodded, which was the most I could've probably asked of him in that moment, and I took his boots, not wanting to risk him dropping them to the floor by accident in front of my parents' bedroom. I walked towards the door of the kitchen, opening it and waiting for him to exit the room before turning off the light. I took my phone, that I'd almost forgotten was in the pocket of my sweatpants for that whole time, and turned on the flashlight, hoping it would've been enough to keep Harry from tripping and potentially creating a disaster.

I refrained from telling him to be careful, but I still put the hand that was holding his dark boots behind his back to avoid him falling to his death as we walked up the stairs, making sure the flashlight was lightning the path before him to perfection. Somehow, we managed to make it to the upper floor in the most complete silence, and I let out the breath I was holding when I noticed how close we were to our destination. I tiptoed, and Harry just walked, past my parents' bedroom and past the studio, finally getting to my room.

I pushed the door open and I ushered Harry in before closing it, putting his boots on the floor at the end of the bed. "Your coat" I whispered, helping him to take him off when he somehow managed to get tangled in it, and putting it on my couch. I took the book I'd left on the floor and put it on my couch as well, turning around and discovering that Harry had sat on my bed, a confused look in his eyes as he glanced at the opposite wall, as if he couldn't quite understand what he was doing there, but wasn't bothered enough to move.

I left him to whatever he was doing, opening my wardrobe and taking a pair of leggings and a long sleeved shirt before closing it and turning to look at him. "I'll be back soon, don't move" I said quietly before making my way out of the door and into the bathroom, turning the light on only when I'd already closed the door.

I changed quickly into the sleepwear and I combed my auburn hair, putting it in a loose braid so that it wouldn't have been all over the place during the night. As I was checking myself in the mirror, my eyes fell on the cleaning bucket, forgotten next to the bathtub.

He wasn't drunk enough to puke, was he?

I shrugged the thought off, taking a hair tie and tying the end of my braid, but it wasn't long until my eyes fell on the bucket again.

What if he had, though?

I sighed, realising that I had no intention of cleaning his puke off the floor of my bedroom if that would've been the case, and decided to take it just in case. I carefully lifted it and exited the room, turning off the light and tiptoeing my way back to my bedroom.

When I pushed the door open, I found Harry lying down on my bed, completely passed out, breath hissing his way through his parted lips. I left the bucket at the end of my bed, next to his boots, before walking back towards the door and closing it, turning the key in the lock. I didn't like sleeping with my door locked, but I couldn't have risked my mum entering and discovering that there was someone in my bed.

I turned around, glancing at Harry's sleeping figure from where I was standing, trying to decide what to do next.

Did I slip the blanket of the bed and cover him with it? I pushed the idea away quickly, I didn't even dare to think of all the places his clothes had been, and I surely had no intention of undressing him while he was sleeping.

He was sleeping on his back. Did I turn him around? I was supposed to turn him, wasn't I?

I slowly approached him, putting my hand on his shoulder and shaking lightly, managing to wake him up a little bit. "Lie on your side" I whispered, pushing him lightly to encourage the movement.

He mumbled something of completely unintelligible, but successfully turned to the side. I smiled at myself, taking the burgundy blanket from the couch and covering him with it. The little smile was wiped from my face when I realised he was lying where he usually did on my bed, on the side closer to my nightstand. I looked up, giving the wall in front of me a disheartened look. How was I supposed to get under the blanket? I sighed, walking to the end of the bed, somehow managing not to crash against the bucket, and got on my mattress from there. I crawled towards the pillow, carefully digging a hole in the blanket of my bed to slip in. With some difficulties, I finally managed to get under it, turning my head to glance at Harry's face. He was completely oblivious about everything that had happened, deeply asleep.

Please don't puke, I found myself thinking as I reached over him to turn off the light, turning around and cuddling up in the blanket when the darkness enveloped the room.

•  •  •

I was roughly woken up by my alarm clock ringing just five hours after. I shot up, somehow managing to reach past Harry's sleeping form and turn it off.

I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath when the silence enveloped everything again. Suddenly realising that Harry was actually next to me, I turned my head to look at him. He was in the same exact position I'd left him in the night before, his lips slightly parted. I nervously bit my lower lip, putting my finger under his nose to make sure he was still alive, before nodding to myself and sliding out of my bed in the same way I'd slid in five hours before, walking to my closet and picking out my clothes for the day and unlocking the door. I exited the room and closed the door, debating for a few moments if I should've locked it as well. After realising that, considering it'd only been five hours, Harry surely wouldn't have woken up in the following twenty minutes, I turned the key in the lock as well, taking it with me as I made my way to the bathroom.

I had a fast shower and dried myself up before getting dressed quickly, combing my hair and drying it up with my hairdryer equally as fast before walking back to my bedroom. I unlocked it and glanced inside, discovering that Harry was still sleeping, so I locked it again and went downstairs, where I found my mother searching for something in her bag.

"Hi mum" I said, pouring some of the already heated water from the kettle in a cup to make myself a tea.

"Morning Sierra. I have a work emergency and I'm already late" she replied, taking her phone out of her bag and throwing it back in again. "Alright."

I nodded, a little smile forming on my face at the information. Maybe I wouldn't have had to sneak Harry out after all. "Where's dad?" I asked, just to make sure. I took a teabag and put it into the cup, looking up and widening in my eyes as I spotted Harry's phone on the counter, right behind my mother. I took the cup and quietly made my way towards it, moving to stand in front of it before stealthily taking it and putting it into the back pocket of my jeans.

She took her coat, putting it on before checking her bag one last time. "He already left, had a plane to catch at five, don't you remember? We talked of it during dinner yesterday."

"Oh yeah, right" I said, tentatively sipping the tea.

"Well, I'm going. Remember to lock the door" she said, walking towards the front door. "Bye"

"Sure" I replied. "Bye." I finished my tea in the second she was out of the door, rushing up to my room when I was done.

I unlocked and walked inside, noticing that not much had changed, given that Harry was still sleeping. I sighed, shaking his shoulder lightly. "Wake up" I said quietly, checking the time on my alarm clock and discovering we should've exited the house in less than twenty minutes.

He stirred, and it wasn't long before a little frown found his way onto his face. He opened his eyes and blinked a few times at the light. I could literally spot the split second in which he became aware of himself, and suddenly sat up, giving a confused glance around. "Why am I here?" He asked groggily, his voice still laced with sleep, as he tried to make out the reason of his surroundings.

"You came here yesterday night" I said with a little shrug, giving him an attentive glance as I tried to understand how much of what had happened he remembered.

"Fuck, I think I drank a little too much" he hissed, hiding his face in his hand for a second. "Where's my car?"

"Not here." I took his boots and brought them on his side of the bed, trying to hide the bucket at best, before putting his phone next to him on the bed.

He nodded. "I'll text Zayn and ask him to give us a lift to school" he murmured, getting off the bed and taking his phone, typing a text fast and sending it.

I nodded at his words, observing him as he straightened his clothes, that somehow managed not to look like he'd slept in them. "Breakfast?" I asked him quietly, but he shook his head, walking past me and taking his coat, retrieving a small packet with white pills in it from its pocket, taking one and putting the packet back in its place.

"Have water?" He asked nonchalantly, and I gave him a somewhat shocked glance. "It's aspirin" he specified, and I nodded fast.

"Uh, sure" I said, turning around and making my way downstairs, barely aware of Harry's steps behind me. I poured him a glass of water, watching him with the corner of my eye as he took the pill.

He put the glass down on the counter, tapping his fingers against its side a couple of times. "Can I use your restroom?" He asked, and I nodded.

"Sure, it's upstairs" I replied, watching him as he walked up. After a few seconds I went upstairs as well, taking my bag and checking if everything was in there before walking down again.

I heard the sound of someone honking coming from outside as Harry walked down as well, his coat in his hand, his hair not as messy as before.

"That's Zayn" he said quietly, putting the coat on as he made his way towards the front door.

I followed him, taking my coat from the hanger next to the door and slipping it on as we exited the house.

The drive in Zayn's car was exceptionally quiet, only interrupted by the amber-eyed boy's sighs of disapproval as he glanced at me through the rear-view mirror. At that point, it was quite clear that Zayn didn't particularly like me, and, if I had to be honest, I didn't like him that much as well. It was kind of mutual, and we were both okay with that.

I couldn't have been gladder when we finally arrived to school and I was allowed to leave the car, that had almost seemed to grow hotter and hotter under Zayn's almost feral look.

Somehow Harry and I managed to make it to our first class without being stared at too much - or at least, not more than usual. When we entered the room, I discovered that Niall was already inside, glancing at every single person that walked in. Harry straightened his back, making his way to the seat next to mine as gracefully as usual, somehow managing to look like he wasn't royally hungover. He sat down, giving a somewhat absent glance to the whiteboard as the teacher walked in.

I took off my coat and sat down as well quickly, not wanting to give him any reason to pick on me. I took out my notebook and pencil, giving Harry a paper sheet and a pen since he'd left everything in his car, and after a while the class started.

Somehow the lesson seemed to be even more boring than usual, and I had to try my best not to fall asleep, damning the few hours of sleep I'd managed to get the past night. When we were halfway through the class I finally gave up and gave Harry a side glance, discovering that he wasn't doing much better.

He'd put his forearms on the desk and was leaning his head on them, hiding his face in the crook of his elbow, letting out a deep sigh every once in a while. In an attempt to show him my support, I put my hand on his shoulder, squeezing it lightly.

"Mr Styles, are you alright?" A voice said all of sudden, and both our heads shot up at the sound.

I bit my lower lip nervously when I realised it was the teacher that had spoken, and that everyone's eyes were on Harry - including Niall's. So much for acting like he wasn't hungover at all.

"Mr Styles, you're excused from my class. I suggest you drink something hot in the cafeteria, it'll pick you up just fine. Miss Regan, you're excused as well, your duty is to make sure Mr Styles here won't die" he said, surprising not only me, but the entire class. He must'd been in a good mood that day.

I stood up fast, putting the strap of my bag over my shoulder, taking my coat and following Harry as we both made our way out of the class under Niall's attentive stare.

We walked to the cafeteria in silence, a little smile forming on my face when we walked inside and discovered there were only four or five other people in there because of the peculiar hour.

Harry ordered a coffee and I waited next to him as he paid it and took the cup, carefully making his way to a table in the middle. We sat down, and I watched silently as he put some sugar in the cup,  stirring it with the coffee spoon.

He touched the side of the cup, proceeding with ignoring it when he found it too hot. He stopped his movements, looking down at the white table between us, a somewhat thoughtful look in his eyes, seeming to be thinking of something. He straightened his back and looked up, brushing back a strand of hair that had found its way in front of his green eyes, the colour enhanced by the redness in them.

"Is something wrong?" I asked quietly in the end, wondering if he maybe wasn't feeling well. Or more like, if he was feeling worse than he already was.

He moved his gaze to me, biting his lower lip and wetting it with his tongue in an almost automatic motion, the pensive look not leaving his face. I was about to ask again, but was roughly stopped when he spoke all of sudden.

"Go out with me."

Artwork is #16 in fanfiction and is over 430k now! Thank you so much, your support truly means the world to me. x

Miki

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